Deals With Demons
by Halcyon Dementia
Summary: Black Widow makes a deal with Loki to finally clean her bloody past. But at what cost?
1. Chapter 1

The Black Widow peered down at her own hands as she washed blood from them. It had seeped under her fingernails. More than anything else she loathed the feeling of blood under her fingernails. The texture of it when it dried, the metallic smell. It had already started crusting and the water was turning pink. When she finished, she wiped the remaining sweat from her brow and released her shoulders, which she only just noticed were tense. Walking out from the bathroom she saw Barton coming out of the men's room, also done from scrubbing blood out of his calloused skin.

They stood staring at one another for a whole minute until she finally spoke.

"Do you ever get tired of this?"

"Killing, you mean?"

She nodded.

"I've never enjoyed it."

"I'm wondering at what age I'll quit, or at least, what age all this will finally catch up to me. What age some younger agent with more skill will take me out once and for all."

"Don't talk like that."

"We both know agents like us don't live very long lives."

"What's with you all of a sudden? Was it this particular mission?"

"I must say, watching young children run into crowds with bombs strapped to their chest does have a way of getting to me." She said, realizing that was exactly why she was mentioning all this. She had been enveloped by these thoughts since they had entered the plane, had been reeling over it in her mind, internally screaming, dying inside. And suddenly, she felt something break in her.

She fell to the floor. Barton caught her and fell with her. She let those tears, tears she had not cried in her long life as a killer. She released them, and Barton for the life of him could not remember ever seeing her cry.

"Shh," he caressed her hair. "You know, it's probably good for us to cry sometimes. You've seemed different lately, distant."

"It was what he said."

"What who said?"

"Loki."

"What did he say?"

She heaved, watching tears drip onto his leather jacket, wondering if the moisture would ruin it.

"He knew things about me when he was controlling you. He knew my past, and he threatened to have you kill me. And you know what the sad part was, it wasn't that he said all those things, it was that I thought to myself, if there were anyone I would want to kill me, it would be you."

"Natasha!"

"I'm serious. Someday, maybe that day will come, when one of us steps out of line, when one of us snaps and does something crazy. Well if I do, and you know I'll be hurting people, do it."

"You know I couldn't."

"I'm not asking you, I begging you."

He looked down at her, wiped a tear from her bloodshot eyes and sighed.

"Only if you do the same for me."

"I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha was given a vacation. She had not asked for one, but all the Avengers were away somewhere, and Fury figured she and Clint should have time off, too. She had no idea what to do with herself. She spent most of her time cleaning her apartment, even though it was already spotless. How could it be dirty when she was barely ever there. It was then she got around to more thinking, which she knew was dangerous but could not help. Did she, the Black Widow, have a home?

In a different world, different space, somewhere above Midgard, an Asgardian god sits idly and watches as his adopted father coronate his false brother. His jealousy tearing through him like the bluntness of Thor's hammer. So green is he, his face nearly matches his robes. After the ceremony he is finally freed, however, his movement is limited. He can barely move a pace without a guard watching him. _They do not trust me_, he thinks. And the truth is, no one does. Not after the stunts he pulled trying to conquer Earth. He was surprised they even allowed him out of his cell as soon as they did. He knows it was merely so he could stand by his brother upon this day, and he hates all of this even more. He has become only angrier since his plan failed. Angry mostly at himself. He steps onto the balcony hanging over Asgard, he gazes into the distance and thinks, _do I have a home? Is this my home? Is Jottenheim my home? Do I belong anywhere?_

He had more than enough time to think lately. He spoke to almost no one. He had trouble looking into Odin's face at all, but even more so his mother's. He always saw such disappointment there, it drew him mad. Everyone could tell he was full of deep angst, yet no one dared speak to him. He was surrounded by people, yet constantly alone.

Out of the blue, a memory enters his eyes. A spider. She casts her look in his direction, and he instantly hates her so very much. He knows about her already from her archer friend, from diving into his mind and fishing for information. He knows she has a sordid past, and believes herself unbreakable. But he thinks he can break her. Despite her recovering from his cruel words and threats and acting as if it all just bounced off her glossy shell, she knows he knows more about her than she would like. He felt something in those eyes, he saw something horrified, a young girl, remembering what it was like to be afraid. She fears not what happens to her, but only to those she cares for. That is her first mistake, caring for others. But he, too, cares for people, he knows it is true. Despite that he tries desperately not to. He becomes aware of the fact that she was the last person he truly spoke to, the last real conversation he had. Ever since then, it has been running away, fighting, being ignored. He closes his eyes and thinks of her. He wonders if she may help him. He does not know how, only that the two of them are similar, more than either of them would care to admit. But speaking to her made him feel alive. Making her eyes open wide in terror made him feel powerful. She is also a powerful mortal in her own way. He wants to harness that power. He wonders if it is possible. He has grown restless and bored. _Asgard is no longer home_, he thinks. _Perhaps the Black Widow will provide me with some entertainment to relieve my boredom._

Natasha got a chill suddenly, despite the fact that it was eighty-five degrees in her apartment. She always went with her gut instincts, it was what made her a good agent, and she had instincts right now telling her that something wicked was coming her way. She walked out onto her balcony and looked up at the sky. A storm was brewing to the east. She was wondering if it would rain. It had been so dry lately. She closed her balcony door and locked it. She also made sure her front door was locked. She still felt uneasy.

The next morning was welcomed with the sound of rain pelting against windows. The sky was completely overcast and she felt incredibly worn out. Until she heard something in the kitchen. Immediately hopping out of bed wearing just the night shirt and underwear she usually wore, grabbing her gun from the holster she kept on her nightstand, she inched out to the open door toward the sound. She slowly snuck down the hall to the living room, totally overcome with shock when seeing the horned helmet and green cape.

"Good morning, Black Widow."

He was staring out the balcony window, back towards her. She shot without hesitation, narrowly missing. Before she could react his hands were knocking the pistol from her fingers and wrapping around her neck. He lifted her up, her feet scraping against the rug, her hands trying to pull his apart.

"I came here to talk, but it seems you have no sense of manners." He waited until he saw that look in her eyes, the one he saw back on the ship, the fear taking over her body. He saw her survival instincts kick in. She did whatever she could, clawed whatever part of him she could reach, but to no avail. Finally, just before the moment she would lose her breath forever, he threw her against the wall. She writhed on the floor, holding her neck and gasping for air.

"Let us begin again, shall we? Good morning, Black Widow."

She said nothing, only coughed.

Finally she gathered enough air in her lungs to speak again, her voice coming out hoarse.

"What do you want?"

He sat down on her leather sofa, felt its smoothness in his slender fingers.

"How do you do it? How do you live all this time alone, without a family, without ever giving into personal desires?"

She sat up and leaned against the wall, knowing at this moment fighting was not an option.

"I have Clint, I guess."

"But do you love Clint?"

"I love him as a brother, he's all the family I have really. We've been through so much together."

"Yes, that I know." He smirked devilishly.

"Look, you son of a bitch, I don't know what you want from me, or how the hell you got here, but don't think we won't catch you again."

"I have no intention of staying here long. I'll be back to Asgard before anyone realizes I'm missing. And I will put a spell on you that forbids you to speak of my appearance."

"Why me? Why not go attack Stark or someone?"

"Because it was you I shared a connection with."

"What connection? I came to you looking for information, and I got it."

"Yes, but at what price? Don't act so tough, Black Widow. Spiders are deadly poisonous but they can be crushed. I know of your origins, I know the things you did."

"That's all in the past. I'm not the same person anymore."

"Oh really? What has changed? The fact that now you have people to make sure you do the right thing?"

"No, I make sure of that!"

"You know, you are so much more endearing to me when I think of who you used to be. I loathe mortals but if I had known you then I would have hired you in a moment."

"What, and do your dirty work?"

"Yes. I could have had you without hypnotizing you. You would have done it, admit it. Working for a god instead of some lowly mob boss."

"You are so full of shit. You don't know me. We talked once, and I was using you, and you think you know me. Just because you got into Clint's head and fumbled around in his brain for a while you think you know all about me."

"I know how to get under your skin." His lips turned up again, in that irksome fashion she was accustomed to seeing.

Natasha was silent.

"I could give you what mortals cannot. I can give you the best pay off. If you do some things for me, I will reward you in ways you could not imagine."

"I don't want to make deals with demons." She spoke defiantly, looking into his eyes, trying to find some semblance of pity to plead with in there. Fortunately for him he was void of any.

"Well, we could do it that way, or we could do it another way. Where I tell you if you do not do what I say, I start killing your friends."

"How do I know your first objective won't be to kill them?"

"You are smart, aren't you? No, I will not ask that of you unless it is necessary. There is much and more your talents and capabilities can do for me."

"What will you do for me if I agree?"

He could not help but smile. He had wrangled her in, had come here on a whim, expecting to just fight, but she had taken the bait, and he wanted to see where this could go.

"I could wipe that ledger clean. Give you a fresh start, even give you a new face, a new name. You could go live your life somewhere, free of all this."

"I don't believe you." She looked away; he could tell he was making her upset.

He knelt down beside her, removed his helmet and grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away, but he held her. He pulled out a knife, cut her hand open, and then his own. He put their hands together. She felt the rush of his blood enter her. It felt different, wonderful, full of magic. Her cut was miraculously gone when she looked back at her hand.

"This is a blood oath. It cannot be broken, not between a god and a mortal, or a god and another god. It is sacred."

She looked up at him and asked, "Why? Why are you offering this to me?"

"I may be getting soft, perhaps I want to see if it is possible for someone like you to find happiness, to forget the past and move on because then maybe it is possible for me. You and I, we are not so different."

He could see her pushing herself as far away from him as possible. Was he that loathsome? Was the mere sight of him a terrible thing? He reached out to try to push a lock of her hair out of her face, the way his mother did to him when he was young, but she grabbed his hand and swatted it away.

"I'll be back soon."

She remained on the floor as he stood. He walked into the hallway.

She jumped up and ran after him.

"Hey, wait a min-"

He was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

For a time Natasha assumed it had all been a dream. She thought it was some form of posttraumatic stress. She thought the pressure of not being able to talk to anyone about what was going on was getting to her. But she was uncertain whether assuming it was a dream was better because that meant she dreamt of Loki. She was afraid to even dream of him, afraid he could watch her dreams like a dream catcher, could enter and manipulate them.

She continued on as usual, her allotted time of vacation was over and she was relieved to finally have things to do and places to be.

On that particular morning as she was putting her boots on, she noticed something flash across the mirror to her left. She turned away from it, wanting all this to stop. All the mind games.

"Black Widow." He heard that stern, yet playful voice float into the room.

She turned her face to the mirror.

He stood there, in full regalia, in the mirror world.

"I need you to call an emergency meeting, I need all the Avengers there, and you will tell everyone that you have seen me. I am relieving you of the spell in order to do this."

"They will want to know details. Did I just see you or did you attack me? Where did I see you, what were you doing, etc."

"You're clever, you will come up with something."

She stared at his frame in the mirror.

"You're not going to tell me the rest of your plan, are you?"

"Net yet. Be Patient."

She stepped into a white walled room. Empty. It was cold and sterile. Much like her apartment. She sat down in one of the chairs around the table. Fury's voice betrayed a hint of concern when she called to tell him to organize an emergency meeting on her behalf. He wanted details but she said over the phone was not the time and place to discuss them. Besides she had to come up with a story.

Just then, Barton and Steve came in laughing over some joke Barton had heard from Tony. Natasha smiled naturally, the way she always did when seeing them. But now a sinking feeling in her gut was taking over. She knew Loki meant to strike soon, and when the time came, would she be able to betray these people? Would she be able to lie to them? Was she being selfish? _Of course you are_, she thought to herself._ But don't I also deserve a normal life_? No, you're a killer.

Clint instantly wanted to know what was going on, she merely said, "I want to wait for everyone to get here first."

Tony Stark walked in with Eric Banner, chatting about some new technology they were working on.

Natasha heard none of it, she stared into space, holding in deep breaths, trying to act natural.

Fury and Agent Hill walked in, followed finally by Thor. How they had managed to contact him she had no idea. She left that pseudo science-religion-space-time-continuum mumbo jumbo to Fury.

Once everyone was seated, Natasha stood up.

"I know you've all been wondering why I've called you here, so I'm just going to get right to the point. I've seen Loki."

Thor immediately stood up and said, "That is quite impossible, he is under guard at all hours and his magic has been restricted."

She gave him a cold, hard look.

"I think you underestimate your brother and what he's capable of."

"Where did you see him?" Clint asked.

"It was just this morning, I called Fury as soon as it happened. I was on my way here, I saw him at a distance, he was wearing different clothing but I knew it was him. I followed him for some time, but he turned a corner and was gone."

"Are you certain it was him?" Thor asked.

"Yea, Tash, you've been stressed lately, maybe you just thought it was him." Clint chimed in.

"Even if it was my imagination, are we going to take this sort of thing lightly? Should we not at least investigate? You say he's under lock and key all the time, but do you really know how powerful he is, Thor? Hasn't he surprised you before? Didn't he just try to take over the world a few weeks ago?"

Everyone was silent.

Fury sighed and said, "Maybe you should take a longer vacation."

"Are you serious?" She played up being shocked and angry. She had a feeling this was part of his plan.

Good old Captain America spoke, "I think she's right, we should investigate any leads we find, maybe he's plotting again. Who knows?"

"I shall go to Asgard and deal with this promptly. I will be back as soon as I find out anything." Before anyone could stop him, Thor was swinging his hammer and flying out of the building.

Everyone filed out of the room, Clint held Natasha back for a moment to talk.

"Are you sure you saw him?"

"Clint, have I ever made you doubt me?"

"No, I guess not. We better keep an eye out for him. Let's go to where you said you followed him and check it out."

"Good idea."

Two hours later, after obviously finding neither clues nor any leads, Thor, Natasha, Clint and Fury were in a conference room at the back of one of their facilities.

"As I said, he has been closely guarded, I talked to all the guards. They have been watching his movements intently and he has displayed no magic nor made any subtle changes in behavior all day."

"I guess maybe I was seeing things." Natasha sighed.

"Don't discount yourself yet." Fury said.

"I will take special care to watch him myself." Thor offered.

"It wouldn't hurt, I think it would at least make Natasha more at ease." Clint suggested.

"All right, well if we have this settled for now, we have to take off. Clint, let's move."

Clint and Fury got up and left. Natasha and Thor sat there for a moment.

"You know I truly love my brother." Thor started to say.

"I know you do. I don't blame you for giving him the benefit of the doubt. I want to believe in peoples' inherent goodness, too. I just don't, not after all I've seen."

He put a large, burly hand on hers and said, "There's still hope for you." And flashed that bright smile of his.

She looked up at him and smiled, and was immediately drawn to the window behind him. Loki stood there, with his mouth he mimed, "Don't let him leave, distract him."

She was suddenly nervous, but tried not to let it show. She knew what to do. She put her other hand on top of his and started to caress it softly.

"Thor, your hands are so much softer than I expected them to be."

He laughed, "I am a god of Asgard! Born from the body of Odin!"

"If only your brother could have been so lucky." She darted a dark glance over where Loki was still standing, making sure she was doing what he asked, then he walked away and disappeared behind the wall.

"Loki is a complicated lad. He has these insecurities that drive him to the brink of insanity. He has a lust for power that is insatiable, and I am to blame for it, I know. I blame myself for his undoing."

"No, you can't blame yourself. He has to take responsibility for what he's done. He chose to do those things."

He smiled sadly, "I know, yet I still feel for him."

She touched his face, pulled him in with her eyes, their faces grew closer together, until their lips just barely touched.

He pulled away.

"Black Widow, you are a superb fighter, and a beautiful woman, but my heart belongs to another."

"Please, call me Natasha. And what does she have that I don't?"

He was silent for a moment.

"A kind heart."

She pulled back and gave him a look of hurt, it was real, and it went deep down in her.

"You think I don't have one?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"You think I'm some cold bitch that has never known the meaning of love or loss."

"No, I don't think that at all, you may be a bit stoic in expression, but by no means are you heartless. I can see it when you speak to Clint."

"But you don't think I could ever be loved."

"No, I never said that…Natasha…listen to me."

She was done listening. If this god she barely knew thought this of her, what did people she had worked with for years think of her. Did everyone think she was so emotionless?

Without warning Thor stood up and said, "I must go, something is happening."

Natasha's head cleared for a moment. Whatever Loki was up to, Thor knew.

"I think you better stay here." She had her gun aimed at his forehead before he could move any further.

"Natasha, what is this? Something is happening in Asgard, I must go."

She moved to stand in front of the door.

"Natasha…what has Loki done to you?" He stepped closer. She pulled the trigger and he deflected it with his hammer. The rage coursing through her veins was palpable. She had no idea why what he said made her so angry, but there was no stopping now.

"Please, I do not wish to hurt you."

"I can't let you go, Thor." The tension was immense. Her elbows were starting to quiver from the tightness in her stance.

"Don't do this, I beg you."

"What have you ever had to struggle through? You were born a god, raised a god, and you'll probably live forever as a god."

"Natasha, I'm sorry I have to do this." He swung his hammer. She ducked out of the way, rolled to the side and kicked him in the back. He lurched for a second, then swung his hammer again, narrowly missing her legs and she spread them apart on the floor. She used that moment to kick him in the face. Unfortunately he caught her leg and threw her through the window she had previously seen Loki in. She managed to get on her knees, all the wind knocked out of her. Thor was moving quickly out the door, ignoring her and moving down the hallway. She wondered why nobody had run out when they heard that huge crash. Was everybody gone?

She jumped in front of him, once again in the way of him leaving.

"I don't know what Loki has done to you, but I hope it's magic." He said. This time he swung the hammer, not at full strength, no, he knew that would kill her, and he honestly believed she was under a spell. It hit her square in the chest, she made no attempt to move out of the way, almost as if she wanted him to hit her. She hit the wall of the hallway, and fell in a puddle on the floor.

She lay there, breathing staggered, her bleak eyes looking up at him as he walked past her.

"I'm sorry." He said apologetically.

"Thor, how good to see you." She looked over to see Loki standing in the hallway, holding none other than the tesseract.

"Loki, no, please." Thor said, "Make this madness stop."

"Or what? You'll lock me up again? No restraints you ever put on me will ever keep."

"What have you done to her?" Thor pointed down at Natasha,

"Nothing, she was sick of all you liars and fools masquerading as heroes."

"What do I have to do for you to bring the tesseract back?"

"There's nothing you can do."

"What if I step down from the throne? Is that what you want? You want to be king of Asgard?"

"I am no longer interested in that position."

"Loki, please. Be reasonable-"

"I have had enough talk," He eyed Natasha creeping her way towards them, "Now!"

She stabbed the small knife she had pulled out of her pocket into Thor's leg, and at that moment Loki froze him as he cried out. Then Loki touched him, and he was gone.

"What did you do? Where did he go?" She yelled.

"Somewhere no one will ever find him." He said, no smirk on his face, only sadness in his voice.

Thor was encased in ice, slowly sinking into the ocean. He thought, _is this where I will remain for the rest of eternity? Is this the price I pay for loving you, brother?_

He watched the remaining glimmer of sunlight disappear.


	4. Chapter 4

Natasha was in shock. She looked down at the small droplets of blood that had seeped through Thor's pants and onto the tile floor. He had been standing there a moment ago. She was having trouble processing any of what just happened. She shut her eyes trying to forget it all.

"Get up." Loki commanded.

She barely heard him.

He became impatient and pulled her up by the arm.

"We must leave." Before she could pull away he had transported them back to her apartment.

"Grab whatever you need, you can't stay here."

"What the hell did you do?" She cried out.

"Why are you angry, you knew I was planning something. And might I add, you did a fine job." He said sarcastically.

"I did what you asked, I kept him busy long enough for you to steal that thing again and doom us all."

"You're not one of them anymore. You're above them. You've always been above them." Loki's voice was so serious she took a step back.

"Yea, that's right, now I'm your puppet."

He took a deep breath in trying to maintain his anger. She was so close to his level of rage, he could feel it. He wanted her to join him there, unite in the common enemy. She just needed a little push.

"You want to know something? When I dove into your friend, Barton's, mind, I saw what he thinks of you. He loves you, he truly does, but he so fears you he cannot get close to you. In you he sees this mangled human being whose sole purpose is to kill. And he decided long ago that he could never be with someone so broken."

"I don't believe you." She said without any emotion in her voice.

"You can choose not to believe me, but I want to tell you this. Humans will never understand you, they will always fear you, they will judge you and make you feel guilty for the life you have had. I know this because I have watched them for so many centuries. You have to lie and pretend to be someone else to seem normal. You have to essentially become someone else to be accepted. Even Thor, the high and mighty thinks you a heartless killer. Yes, I heard that part. But I will never hold you accountable for your past, if anything, I relish in it. I think you are a divine creature, in fact, if I were human I would find you irresistible and fascinating. Hell, even as a god I find you interesting. I find all the things you hate about yourself to be your best qualities, including that seething rage I can feel forming under your skin. I will never hold you back from your true greatness. I will only enhance it. That is why I have asked you to join me. Forget the Avengers; forget those measly humans you work for. You are greater than they are, and I want to show you your true potential. For all the people who have hurt you, for all the pain you have suffered, will you join me?"

He held out his hand to her. She stared at it for a while. Her mind was telling her to say no, to walk away, go back to S.H.E.I.L.D., tell them what happened, try to find Thor, make things right. But her heart was telling her to take that crazy god's hand and see where it took her. She already knew what her answer was, long before she placed her hand gently in his open palm, before he could transport them out of her apartment, before the world below her fell away and before she was standing in an unknown world to her gazing up at impossibly high towers.

"This is Asgard." He whispered to her as she stood in awe of this foreign world.

The first order of business was letting Asgard know it was under siege. Loki did this easily by walking up to the throne, claiming he had killed Thor, and was by legal right, taking the throne. With the tesseract in his hands no one stopped him. Gods did not fear much, but they did fear the prospect of being obliterated to death. Odin was in his Odin sleep, this one presumably forever, since Thor had been named king and his services no longer needed. His mother had joined him in their restful state, so there was really no one to stop him from taking over.

"I thought you said you no longer desired this position." Natasha said, standing by his throne in her new uniform, a more breathable silk ensemble of a black top with tight dark green pants and boots. She also carried a gilded staff with a blade at the end. She was his second in command, a glorified bodyguard, secretary, errand runner.

"This is only the first stop. Take Asgard, take the rest of the worlds."

"So now you want to conquer all the worlds. Ambitious." She smirked. "How long do I have to be your slave until you give me what I want."

He gave her a petulant look.

"When I say you're ready."

She realized working for him was really no different than working for a mob boss. If anything he was pushier, more opinionated, more irrational. Being in Asgard was almost worth it all though. When she had a few spare moments she would walk around the palace, stare at all the magnificent things. On top of that the food was absolutely marvelous. She often wondered what it had been like to grow up here, how different it must be.

But at the moment, she stood by him, as people came to pledge their allegiance to him, most out of fear. She dozed off now and again.

He broke for a moment from the groveling to say, "I need you to go to Midgard for me."

"What do you want me to do?"

"People have been wondering where you've gone. I need you to act like nothing is wrong, and convince Fury that I have been a little angel up here and there is nothing to worry about."

She walked over to his throne, touched the tesseract, waited for him to make it work, and she reappeared in her apartment. She had only been gone a day or two since her fight with Thor. She thought no one would really notice her gone, however, her voicemail on her cell phone read twenty-six messages. Most of them were from Clint asking where the hell she was, and the other half were Fury telling her to report as soon as she got this message.

She went to headquarters. Both Clint and Fury were there, debriefing after their latest mission.

"Where the hell have you been, Agent Romanoff?" Fury said sternly.

"I was having some personal time. I think you were all right. I think Loki jangled me up a bit and I freaked out. I think I imagined seeing him, and it was all just me having a little mental break down."

"I think in that case, you need some more time off. I think you should really get away. I can't have my agents seeing things that aren't really there. Maybe you need to speak to somebody?"

"No, I think I'll be fine. But you may be right, I may need more time off. Also, Thor came to visit me this morning. He told me he's been watching Loki, and everything is under control. He said we might not see him for a while because he's so busy as king nowadays."

"Hmm, well all right then. All is good in the world." Fury smiled and patted her on the back. "Now go home and recover."

"Thanks." She smiled and waved goodbye.

She had just barely walked back into her apartment to grab a few things when she heard a knock.

"Clint, hey, what are you doing here?"

"I was just concerned. You went missing for two days and didn't tell anyone where you were."

"Clint.."

"I know you don't like talking about emotions and all that, but you know you can talk to me." Clint's eyes wandered to the wall behind her, where he noticed the plaster had cracked, like something or someone had been thrown into it.

"What happened to your wall, Natasha?"

"What?"

"That wall over there. Looks like something happened."

"Oh, sometimes I just get angry and kick it."

"That doesn't look like a wall you've kicked. When you kick a wall you kick through it. And the scuff marks on the floor. Did someone attack you here? Oh Jesus, was it Loki? He did get out, didn't he?"

"You're jumping to crazy conclusions, Clint. Nothing happened here."

"There's something you're not telling me." He looked coldly into her eyes.

He started to take his phone out of his pocket.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Her gun was pointed at his chest.

"Tasha? Why?"

"Because I want a new life, because I'm tired of being the cold-blooded killer you all know me as."

"No one thinks that of you."

"You do. It's why you can never love me as more than a friend. Because I scare you."

"That's not true, he's feeding you lies, Natasha. He's telling you whatever he has to so you'll do what he tells you to. He's a great manipulator. I should know."

"And Fury? Like he's never lied to us? With Loki I don't have to pretend to be someone else, I don't have to pretend to be good. I'm not a good person, and I never have been."

"That's not true-"

"Shut up, Clint."

"I know I promised you I would kill you if you went off the deep end, but I won't do it. I won't give you that satisfaction."

"I can't let you go, you know too much."

"So kill me, add that to your list of people you've murdered."

She slapped him across the face with her pistol. His mouth was bleeding, but he stood there, unmoving.

He went to go for the door but before he could, she pulled out her staff from her pocket, watching it grow to full size, tapped the edge of the blade onto his heart. Once again he was under Loki's spell. This was not what she wanted but it was either that or kill him. This would at least provide some time to figure out what to do with him.

She held his arm and said, "I'm ready." And from a world away, the tesseract reacted and brought them to stand in front of Loki's throne.

He looked bored sitting there. "You should have just killed him."

She said nothing as he stepped off the throne and walked over to her. He slapped her across the face. She readjusted her face, touching her chin.

"Where has all the fire gone!" He screamed in her face. "I want the Black Widow who fears nothing, who kills without remorse. You are disappointing. Are you having doubts?"

"Of course I am. I'm starting to hurt people I care about. You said I wouldn't have to kill them. I wanted to just disappear, I wanted them to just think I was dead and move on."

"I said you would not have to kill them unless you had to. This was one such case where killing would have been most affective. And you know as well as I do someone of your status cannot simply disappear."

"There's always a silver lining with you bad guys. Doesn't matter if you're human or god." She said.

"I believe at this point you would classify as a 'bad guy'. And you should embrace it, you'll feel less guilt that way." He smiled.

Her lips turned up for a moment, almost enjoying his sense of humor.

He sighed and said, "You are far too serious. I know something we could do for fun. Come, we are going to Alfheim."

They landed in the world of elves, a sort of uncivilized bunch. Mostly living in the woods, in small huts made from tall grass. They appeared peaceful, but in reality they were vicious creatures, cannibalistic, full of violent rituals. They landed in the middle of a small village. The elves were confused, they looked out of their huts at them. They started to come out, started eyeing them suspiciously. These elves were not short such as in the story books, but were tall, thin creatures, with pointed ears, slanted eyes, and long limbs and fingers.

"Good evening, residents of Alfheim, I am the king of Asgard, coming to speak with your leader."

"We don't want your kind here." Said one elf.

"Leave our world at once." Said another.

"We know the destruction you Asgardians bring." Another elf chimed in. They began circling around them, getting closer. One snapped out and tried to catch Loki's staff. He instinctively turned and hit the elf with the sharp end of his staff, slicing the elf's neck in half. Then they all descended.

Natasha was instantly in the thick of things, killing elves left and right, indiscriminately. One latched onto her arm and she sliced the creature's arm off, hearing it howling as she threw the detached arm off her. The fighting seemed to go on for a long time, but she had never felt so alive. Not since her last kill, not since the last time she held a sniper rifle in her hand, pulled the trigger, and watched the body of her hit slump against his chair. She was exuberated. Her pulse was racing and she felt powerful.

When all the elves were finally dispatched, she wiped the green slime for blood they had from her face. She looked over at Loki, still breathing heavy as she was.

"Damn elves, never learn how to be civilized." He laughed.

She stared at him as he looked around, checking for more elves. In the soft green glow of this forest his eyes sparkled. There was something majestic in his stature, his hair was blowing softly in the breeze, it blew past her and she faintly smelled his sent. It was dark and musky, yet had a hint of flowers. She wiped the blood from her arms, but had trouble getting the blood on her face.

"That was exhilarating, was it not?" He exclaimed. "Nothing like killing rotten elves. Foul creatures, all of them. They eat the flesh of their dead, you know."

He glanced over at her trying to wipe the slime from her face.

"Here, let me get that." He pulled a dark green handkerchief from his pocket and rubbed it across her forehead.

She looked up into his eyes, he stopped rubbing her forehead for a moment, and looked down at her, holding her chin in his other hand.

"I've never felt so alive. Why do I feel most alive when I'm killing people?"

"Because it's what you were made to do." He said, bringing his voice down to a whisper, "It's the only time you feel at home."

She looked away, backing off, realizing what he said was true, but he grabbed her arms and pulled her back in and brought his lips to meet hers.

She separated their lips for a moment, shock written plainly on her face, but then she wrapped her fingers around his thin neck and reconnected them.

He lifted her up gently, and placed her on the soft grass beneath them. He followed her down, holding onto her as if for dear life, as if the two of them needed each other more than any other two beings in the universe. At first it was soft, but their kisses grew hungry, he began tearing her seams trying to touch the smooth skin beneath these obnoxious clothes. She ripped his clothes off and soon both of them were naked, rolling around in the grass, a few stone throws away from where they had just murdered an entire elf village. None of that bothered them, there was nothing else in the world but them. Something about the way she looked when she was killing those elves made a deep burn form in his loins. He wanted to conquer that power, wanted to control it, wanted it to be his. And now she was lying beneath his frame, and pulling her nails across his back, begging him to enter her body. He had never felt this way about anyone before, especially not a mortal. No one had ever seemed his equal until now, no one had understood him. She felt like a missing piece in the puzzle. And as for her, she felt like she was safe in his arms. She felt like she could let go and not worry anymore.

He felt himself move within her, each thrust making her back arch in a way that drove him even crazier. He wrapped his hand in her hair, and tried to pull her as close to him as possible. She moaned softly.

"No one can hear you here, my spider." He whispered into her ear.

Instantly she started to moan louder, started to grab at him in a hungry, lustful manner. He bit into her neck, and in that moment a surge of energy rushed between them and nothing else mattered for that brief period of time.

Afterwards, he was lying on his back, looking up at last breath of sun, as she was lying with her back turned to him. She was confused. She felt dirty, yet satisfied. Ashamed, yet fulfilled. She wanted more, but had no idea how he felt about her. Until she felt his fingers trace the curve of her hip. Felt the brush of his chest against her back. She turned her face and his lips descended on her.

She rolled over onto her back and looked up at the same sky.

"Do you think we're mistakes?"

"No." he answered without hesitation. "There are no mistakes. This was fate. I could never love an immortal because none of them could ever see past my brother."

"This isn't love. I'm not sure what it is." She turned back onto her side, facing away from him. He started kissing her shoulder, sweetly, in a way she would have never thought possible for him, who was always so full of hate and angst. He made his way to her neck, the lobe of her ear, her breath started to quicken, and his hand wrapped around her neck, and she could feel his hardness against her. She gave in and let him take her again. As far as she was concerned, he could do with her whatever he pleased. She had already come this far, had already betrayed her friends. She might as well let him take over.

As they gathered their shredded clothing, she regretted having to leave this beautiful place, minus the elf corpses lying around. She was at peace here. Now it was time to face reality.

He came up behind her, strung the tesseract around her with his arms, she touched the box and they disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

Natasha was now thoroughly confused. At first, their relationship was that of a boss and his hit man. Now she was sleeping with her boss. _Well, it only happened once, twice technically, but I don't think I should let it happen again_, she thought.

So she did the only natural thing she could do. She avoided being alone with him at all costs. It was easy at the moment because she was tasked with the job of guarding Clint. His brainwashing was lifted, and now they could talk.

They were sitting in a tall tower in a small cell with narrow slits for windows. He was sitting on a cot on the farthest wall from her, while she sat on a wooden chair by the door. She refused to look him in the eye.

"I just want to know why." His voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"It's simple. For the first time someone offered me a different life."

"This is no different, Natasha, and you know it. He's not going to give you what you want, he'll just keep using you."

"I have to take that risk." She could never find it in her to admit to Clint that she had slept with him. Even if she had no feelings for him, she could not face the look he would give her. She knew exactly what it would look like, and it would contain nothing but pure disgust.

"I wish there was a better way, Clint. But we can't let you go."

"So you'll keep me here forever?"

"Until we figure out what to do with you."

An awkward silence hung between them heavy as fog.

She gave him one last glance and got up and left. She locked the door behind her and began her descent down the thin, steep stairs.

When she walked back into the throne room she found Loki giving instructions to bewitched guards, but he eyed her instantly and sent them on their way.

"Ah, there you are. How is our prisoner?"

"As expected." She said, walking past him, trying to get out of there as soon as possible and back to her room.

He caught up with her and said, "You seem displeased. Have I done something to upset you?"

"No." She said, trying to get him off her back.

"Natasha." He said pleadingly. It was the first time she had ever heard him call her by name. She was unsure how she felt about it. She hated it, yet at the same time it sent a shiver down her spine, and her hairs stood on the back of her neck.

She turned around and said, "Look, whatever happened yesterday was a moment of weakness on my part. I was high on adrenaline and I would have had sex with anyone at that point."

His eyes bore down hard on her.

She continued, "I just think we shouldn't complicate things. We can work together as a team, and I'll do my part, but that's it."

"You devilish woman."

"I never said I had feelings for you."

"Right, in your eyes love is for children."

She was hardly surprised he threw that back in her face.

"You know, it's funny," he started, "Here I am, the god of mischief and trickery, the god who tried to conquer the world, who kills for fun, the descendent of a frost giant for god's sakes, and yet I am nowhere near as icy and cold as you. Maybe they were all right. Maybe you really don't have a heart."

She slapped him across the face.

"You don't know me. You think you do because you want to believe someone can be as sad and misunderstood as you. But I'm not like you, and I don't ever want to be with you."

She walked away from him before he could reply. She never turned back to see the look in his eyes. It was of pure disappointment. It was not the fact that he realized she had no feelings for him, but rather that she refused to even consider it. She thought she was so high and mighty, better than him. _Now I remember why I hate women_, he thought.

Some time later he as standing on the balcony connected to his room, contemplating his next move. He looked out at Asgard thinking about when he was a boy and he and Thor would run through these streets, having no idea how one day they would become enemies. At this moment he was most likely getting picked at by fish, and this made him feel better.

His thoughts were disturbed suddenly by a knock at the door. He was confused. Gods generally do not knock. Only humans do that. _Could it be?_ He thought.

It was indeed _that_ woman at the door.

"What do you want?" he asked harshly.

"Look…it's not that I don't like you or something, I mean, we barely know each other and…it's just…it's all very confusing." She stumbled across her words.

"You're right, women are confusing. Mortal ones doubly so." He started to shut the door but she caught it and held it open.

"I don't want everyone to think of me as an emotionless machine. Not even you."

"So what do you propose will get me to change my mind?"

"Let's talk."

"Aren't we talking at this very moment?"

"I mean, let me in and let's just talk."

He looked at her trying to decide if he should let her in, because letting her into his room was not only about letting her enter this physical space, but also allowing access to his heart, and that was what made him hesitant. Finally, he opened the door and she walked through the threshold. He shut the door behind her.

"What would you like to talk about?"

She sat down on his bed with her legs tucked beneath her, making herself comfortable. He noticed only mortals had this sort of audacity. At this point he barely minded. He liked the idea of her being on his bed in general.

"What was it like growing up here?" She asked.

He followed suit and sat down on the bed beside her, only he had his long legs stretched out and his hands behind him to support his weight. He had changed into more comfortable clothing, just a long sleeved tunic and pants. He noticed she was wearing something similar. He liked her in these clothes. They were loose on her, but her frame was still visible, she seemed less restricted, even in her manner.

"Where to begin…Well, Thor and I, when we were young, would often play tricks on Odin…"

She listened to him intently, focused on his words, and got lost in his story.

Hours later, they were still talking when Natasha noticed the sun was coming up.

"Oh, look at that, we talked all night."

He turned and saw the first beam of light coming in through his balcony.

"So we did."

By this point she was lying across his bed, and he was lying beside her, close enough to touch her but not daring to. In those short, few hours he felt like he had gotten to know her better than anyone else. She told him of her childhood, and the horrors she had faced, but she also told him about things she liked. She adored dogs, but children not so much. She liked ice cream but often did not allow herself to eat it. She usually let herself after a tough mission as a reward. He realized how much he loved to make her laugh. Her laugh was warm and genuine. It made his heart swell up almost to the point of bursting in his chest.

"You know I never realized that you're actually kind of funny."

"What do you mean, kind of funny?" He said trying to be serious.

"I mean, if you weren't trying to kill my home planet all the time people would probably like you. You have a certain kind of charisma."

"Of course I do, you think Thor god all the charm? Please, he's the stupid one. I got all the brain and wit."

She giggled at this, and he imagined her as a little girl. It seemed she rarely had the chance to laugh as a child, and maybe she was making up for lost time. He wanted to make her laugh more, wanted to see her smile.

She stopped laughing when she saw that look in his eyes. It was the same look he gave her after they killed all those elves. There was such a raw intensity there, it gave her goose bumps.

"You gods, you don't do anything lightly. You put all your heart and soul into one thing and give it your all."

"That's what makes us so powerful. Have you ever put all your heart into something?"

"I was taught as a child to feel nothing."

"And now what do you feel?" He asked cautiously.

"A reason to exist."

He was done being cautious. He swooped down and kissed her passionately. She responded by running her fingers through his hair. He kissed her neck, her skin a smooth as the satin sheets beneath them, her skin the color of milk.

"Loki.."She said through gasps, "I'm…sorry…about…what I said."

"Shh, it's fine." He said, covering her words with his mouth.

Suddenly she rolled him over onto his back, and pulled her shirt off at the same time. She was wearing nothing underneath, and Loki admired this view of her.

"Stay just like that."

"Why?"

"Are you self conscious?"

"No, never have been."

"I want to memorize your body."

He touched her chest, her stomach, the dip at her hip, then sat up to put his arms around her. She pulled his shirt off, and touched him everywhere. She made him lie down, and slowly stripped his pants off, kissed his thighs, hips, chest. He felt himself getting so hard it throbbed. She threw his underwear off, pulled down her own pants and jumped back on top of him.

She teased his nipple with her tongue and touched his hardness with her fingers. She wanted to draw this out, make him beg for it. She trailed his chest with kisses, going lower until he couldn't take it anymore. He flipped her over and held her arms down.

"Let's see how strong you are." He said seductively.

He held her arms over her head with one hand, and slowly made his way down her body with the other. When he finally got between her legs, she was so wet he felt himself ache out of want. Her hips bucked, begging him to enter her. She bit her lip and he thought he would go over the edge then and there.

"How much do you want it?" He asked.

"A lot." She gasped as his finger dove into her. He kissed her as her back arched up to meet him.

"Ask nicely."

"Do me now."

He laughed and said, "Good enough for me."

He pushed himself in and felt her warmness take over. No matter how deep he went he felt like he wanted more. She rolled him back over and was on top for a while, he squeezed her thighs, holding onto any part of her he could.

Finally, they both were satisfied, and flopped down onto the bed with ecstasy still rolling around in their eyes.

Loki looked over at her, watching her chest rise and fall. The sun was very clearly in the sky now, but he was tired now from staying awake with her all night. He did not mind in the slightest though.

She cuddled up next to him and fell asleep in the crook of his arm. He felt happy, probably the happiest he had ever been. He wondered how this mortal had caused such a change in him. He was no longer angry. Just at peace.

Little did they know that while they had been talking all night, trouble had been ensuing somewhere else in the palace.


	6. Chapter 6

Clint was lying on his cot frustrated. He had tried to break down the door, tried to find a weapon of some kind in his cell, even tried squeezing himself through the window. Useless. Now he was just lying down after doing five hundred push ups to de-stress a bit.

A voice came through the door.

"Archer?" It was a female voice. He went to the door to see a shadow in the stairwell.

"Archer, I am here to aid in your escape."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Sif. I am a friend of Thor's. We need you to go back to Earth and get the Avengers. We must stop Loki; there is a pending attack on Asgard. The elves of Alfheim have risen up, joined with demons from Hel, and they are going to attack our home. We believe Loki too weak to fight them. We need the Avengers."

"Well, I can't do anything from this cell, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Of course." She pulled a key from her robe and unlocked the door.

"We must hurry."

They descended the stairs, still under the cover of darkness. They had to walk through the courtroom, but luckily all was quiet. It all seemed too easy.

"Where is Loki?"

"Your friend is keeping him occupied for the evening." Sif said.

He was confused. Did Natasha and Loki have something going on? He hoped not. He was still convinced she was under a spell of some kind. Half the reason he was willing to risk going off in the middle of the night with this strange woman was so that he could get the Avengers and get Natasha back.

They made it outside the castle, sliding past a few guards. There were three other people waiting outside for them.

"This is Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral. They are on our side." She introduced them.

"So you are the famed archer." Volstagg said.

"My name is Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawk Eye."

"Well, get on." Volstagg signaled for Clint to get on the back of his horse.

"This night is just getting weirder and weirder." Clint remarked.

He climbed on and they set off down the bridge to the newly rebuilt bifrost. He had been trapped in his tower for two days and had not seen the outside world of Asgard. He was mesmerized by it, even at night. The whole world sparkled and shimmered.

They reached the end of the bridge and jumped off.

"Heimdall!" Fandral said. "Open the bifrost."

"It would be my pleasure. Someone needs to stop that demon once and for all."

"That's what we intend to do." Clint said, stepping past him.

They stood inside the dome and waited for Heimdall to thrust his mighty sword into the bifrost.

Clint had no idea what to expect. He had no idea really what was happening, he just accepted it. Suddenly, the world was wrenched out from beneath him and he felt like every cell in his body was being torn apart and put back together. He landed hard and immediately began vomiting whatever was in his stomach.

"Sorry, forgot to warn you about the side affects." Said Sif.

"Thanks!" Clint said jokingly, wiping the vomit from his mouth.

"Where are we?" It took him a moment to realize they were standing in the middle of Central Park.

"We assume you know how to get to your fortress from here." Hogun said.

Clint looked confused, "Fortress?...oh Headquarters. Yes. Follow me then."

Two hours later they had managed to locate Fury, Banner, Tony and Steve.

"So what has happened to Thor?" Fury asked.

"No one knows for certain. We believe he is on Earth. We asked Heimdall, and he says all he sees is darkness when he sees Thor. He is hidden somewhere dark and cannot escape." Sif said.

"Banner, Stark, you two start searching. Do whatever you have to to locate him." Fury ordered.

"Time is of the utmost importance, sir. We have gathered intelligence of an attack on Asgard." Fandral chimed in.

"We will take care of this as fast as possible. Barton, what is the state of Agent Romanoff?" Fury asked.

Clint looked up, then looked around the room, trying to find words.

"She's safe, for now at least. He doesn't seem to be interested in hurting her. She just works for him. I still think she might be under a spell similar to mine, either that or he's just a great manipulator. I would like to ask for everyone to try and not kill her when we go in there."

"I make no promises." Stark joked.

"Hey, this isn't funny. She's one of us." Clint rebuked.

"Well, clearly not. She doesn't seem interested in our wellbeing any longer. She did attack you, dragged you to Asgard and locked you in a cell." Stark replied.

"And we still have no idea where Thor is." Steve said.

Sif got back into the conversation, "We must go back to Asgard as soon as possible. We may have to wait to question Loki to find out where Thor is. Our main objective, first, is to capture Loki."

"So how do we get there?" Fury asked.

"The bifrost."

"Yeah, ok, whatever, let's just go do this before I change my mind." Fury said, still not believing he had to go to Asgard to put down a petty god.

"Well then, lets get ready for some fun, shall we!" As always, Tony brightened up the mood.

Everyone was fully equipped, ready for battle, standing in the middle of Central Park, trying to not look so conspicuous. It was hard with one guy with a sniper rifle strapped to his back, and a guy in an iron suit, and people in weird clothing. They certainly were a strange band of warriors.

"Heimdall! The bifrost!" Sif yelled to the sky.

Clint had the similar feeling of being ripped apart and put back together again. When their feet touched solid ground again, he heard someone vomit behind him. He was spared the humiliation this time.

"Hello, friends!"

Everyone looked up to see not Heimdall, but Loki instead.

"Well, shit." Said Banner.

"So glad all of you could join me! This is an exciting day indeed! I am to be wed!"

"Who the hell would marry your sorry ass?" Fury asked.

"The one and only Black Widow."

"No way, no freakin' way." Clint said.

"No, it's true. She wanted a new life, I promised her that, made her an oath, and I shall give it to her, and you are all just in time for the ceremony. If you would care to follow me."

"Not particularly." Clint said, until an army of Lokis surrounded them and they were forced to comply.

They walked into court, very beautifully decorated, with benches set up and an aisle up the middle. They all sat down on the Bride's side and waited for her to show up. Loki stood on the dais at the front waiting. Then the doors opened, revealing Natasha in a long white gown, covered in lace. She walked slowly up the aisle. Clint stood up when she walked by and said, "Don't do this, Tasha. Please, I beg you. You don't know what kind of crazy magic is involved in this. He might own your soul for the rest of eternity."

Natasha smiled kindly at him, touched his cheek and whispered, "Trust me on this one, Clint." She kissed his forehead, and continued walking down the aisle.

When she met Loki on the dais, a priestess came to stand before them. She asked them to join hands. Natasha breathed in deeply, and from somewhere far away a huge explosion erupted.

Everyone got up and into fighting position.

"They're here!" Sif yelled.

Everyone started to run outside, but Loki screamed, "Where do you think you are all going, what is going on!"

"You pissed off a bunch of elves and now they're attacking your world, you fool! We're here to save your precious kingdom, not for you though, for Thor." Stark yelled back. And they all ran out.

Loki started to follow them but Natasha caught his wrist.

"Loki, please. If you love me like you say you do, you'll get Thor back. We need him."

He looked surprised for a moment, "You…this was all a set up."

"No, not at first. I did join you honestly because I thought you could help me forget my life, I wanted so badly to end all the fighting. I realized I couldn't betray these people, but I couldn't let them hurt you either. Thor's friends came to me and begged me to help get Thor back. I was the one who let Sif into the palace to break out Clint and distracted you so you wouldn't notice. But by the end of the night I forgot why I was there and I realized how much I cared about you. I saw you smile, and I knew it was possible for you to be good. That's why I'm asking you, begging you, to save Thor, so you can save Asgard, together. You don't need a kingdom to be a king, Loki. You're a king in my eyes, and if you love me that should be enough."

"You really are as poisonous as your animal counterpart." He pulled his wrist out of her grip.

"What are you going to do, Loki? Watch as your world is destroyed? As we fight for it in your stead? Are you going to ever be a man instead of this childish god? Will you ever take responsibility for the things you have done?" Another explosion went off, this time closer.

"What about all the sins you have committed?"

"I regret them all, Loki, and I have spent a life time trying to find repentance. I ask that you join me in this. We fight this one last battle and we disappear, together."

At this point she ripped the bottom of her dress off and revealed to be wearing pants underneath. She pulled a gun from her holster and asked, "It's your choice, but I'm going out there."

She started running down the aisle, made it to the door, when she felt a pull on her arm.

Loki pulled her into his arms and kissed her, he took his time, made it sweet. He was afraid she would get hurt, possibly die. He wanted to remember her lips on his. He wanted to hold onto this moment a little while longer.

She smiled and they both walked out of the palace together.


	7. Chapter 7

When they walked outside they were met with a world full of chaos. Elves were running around attacking anything that moved, giants from Hel were starting fires wherever they stood, other residents of Asgard had joined in the fight while others ran away, and the Avengers were already in the thick of it.

"Well, this is worse than I imagined." Loki said.

"Shouldn't have pissed off those elves." The Black Widow gave him a sly smile.

"I will be back as soon as I can."

"I know." And she ran off into battle.

Loki gave Asgard one more guilty look, knowing this was all his fault, knowing he would be punished somehow, took out the tesseract anyway and willed himself to appear at the bottom of an ocean. Thor, still encased in thick ice, stood at the bottom, surrounded by a school of deep-sea fish. Loki batted them away. He touched Thor and the ice melted off. Before Thor could attack Loki out of rage, he hit Thor in the chest with the tesseract and they were teleported to a lonely beach.

Thor hunched over, wet and shivering, coughing and gagging noisily.

"Before you say anything, Brother, let me explain." Loki began.

"Explain how you attacked me? How you convinced the Black Widow to do your dirty work?"

"Listen to me! We don't have much time! Asgard is under attack and we need you."

"Who's we?" Thor asked, not being able to cover his rage.

"The Avengers. They're all in Asgard as we speak fighting an army of elves and demons. Please, Brother, you may not be able to believe this but I have fallen in love with the Black Widow, she is everything to me. You can do as you like to me after the fighting is over but please help me keep her safe." Loki pleaded with his eyes.

Thor said nothing for a moment, his eyes closed trying to calm himself down. He had been trapped for days and had been contemplating how best to punish his brother should he ever get out, but now all those ideas had vanished. He could never hurt his brother, and he knew he would help him, not for him, but for Asgard and the Black Widow.

"Fine, let's go." Thor sighed and touched the tesseract.

Upon landing back in Asgard, things had gone from bad to worse. The whole city was alight with fire and the Avengers were fighting one particular giant, bigger than the other demon giants, and the outcome was not looking too good.

Thor and Loki looked at each other and nodded. Thor swung his hammer and flew right into the giant's face. Natasha looked up surprised, then turned to see Loki running towards her.

"You made it back."

"Of course I did."

Before they could say anything else, the giant slammed a massive fist between them and they both rolled out of the way.

Loki had an idea.

"The tesseract! Let's use it to transport them back. Shut down their gate and start slowly transporting them back to their worlds."

From a few feet away, fighting a group of elves, Natasha yelled, "How do we close their portal?"

"Leave it to me!"

Loki kicked the elf in front of him and started running towards the huge portal behind the giant. When he got there, he set up a few decoy copies of himself and ran past all the enemies. Luckily what the enemy had in strength and numbers they lacked in intelligence.

Touching the portal, he tried to suck its power out, tried to make it short circuit in a way. He noticed it slowly beginning to fade when a demon clubbed him in the back. He turned around, saw a blow coming his way, but suddenly the demon exploded in front of his eyes and he saw the Iron Man.

"Here, let me help you with that."

So both of them used their powers to destroy the gate. After some more sweat and blood, the portal finally collapsed in on itself and disappeared.

"What now?" Stark asked.

"We must gather as many enemies as possible so I can use the tesseract."

"No problem. Rogers!"

"Yea?!"

"Banner!"

The green hulk turned around.

"Help me round up these suckers!" Stark yelled, and they all started to circle the enemies.

When there was finally a substantial group of them surrounded, Loki stepped closer to them and started powering up the tesseract.

"Loki, you're not going with them are you?" Natasha asked, concerned.

"I must. I will be back immediately.

"Brother, I shall come with you." Thor said.

Loki smiled, "If you wish."

Loki held the tesseract in his hands, a surge of power leaving his body and entering the cube, the light it emitted glowed brighter, and brighter, until they were gone.

They were in Hel, all the enemies stopped what they were doing and looked around confused. They had no idea who or what they were fighting anymore.

"Well, here they are, let's go now." Thor said.

"We can't." Loki said.

"Why not?"

"I'm too weak to use the tesseract at the moment. I exerted all my energy destroying the gate and sending all these monsters here."

"You knew this yet did it anyway?"

"I had no choice. I had to save Asgard."

"That is noble of you, Brother. You truly have changed."

Loki smiled when Thor put his large burly hand on his shoulder.

"So what now?"

"Let's kill some giants!" Thor said, and they both burst into laughter.

"It's been a whole day, where could they be?" Natasha asked.

"Don't worry, they will be back." Clint tried to comfort her.

The Avengers sat around the long dining table in the main room of the palace. After spending the whole day helping to clear the wreckage of the city and making sure no citizens were hurt. Sif, Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral were sitting around, too, hoping that their friend would return. They cared not for Loki.

Most of them, if not all of them, wondered how it came to be that Natasha and Loki were together.

"So you and Loki…" Sif began, "You think you two will actually get married?"

"I know everyone here hates him, I get it. I once did, too. But that was before when I only knew him as the God of Mischief. He has feelings like everyone else. He wants to be loved and respected, and who doesn't want that?"

No one said anything, she continued.

"I think he should be given a fair chance. If Thor wants to banish him I will join him wherever he goes. I'm not ready to give him up yet."

"And you won't have to." Loki's voice carried itself from across the room.

"You're back!" Sif exclaimed, seeing Thor standing beside Loki.

Everyone was excited to see them back in one piece.

"What took so long?" Natasha asked as she brought Loki into her arms.

"Well," Thor started, "Loki had to wait a while before his powers could come back and transport us to Asgard, so we passed the time killing giants."

"Isn't that what your father was against? Killing creatures for the sake of killing?" Sif asked.

"They started it." Loki said.

Natasha gave him a reprimanding look, but she could not hold a straight face for very long.

"Now that I've returned, I would ask you to be my bride, and this time we can finish the ceremony."

"Of course." Natasha smiled.

The next day, the doors at the end of the hall opened, and this time Natasha came out wearing a light green lace dress. Her face appeared angelic, Clint noted. She looked like a woman on her wedding day, no longer a warrior or assassin. Her curls framed her face and her cheeks were rosy and soft.

When she reached the end of the aisle, Loki took her hands and gently led her to the altar. Sif acted as her maid of honor, and Thor was Loki's best man. The same priestess came out and began reciting.

"We name you as a god of a god, a woman of a man, a warrior and lover. You are Sigyn, a victorious woman, in life and in heaven."

Loki spoke.

"We made an oath, and I have kept it. I vow to change your life, change your name, and be by your side for all eternity. As long as you stay with me, you will not age, you will remain as I am, for we are one. I will protect you, love you, and be only with you, my Sigyn."

"Loki Laufeysson, you have already changed my life. There is no doubt in my mind that your oath will never be broken. I feel safe with you, and for the first time in my life I have found my home in your heart."

"Do you, Loki, take this woman as your wife?"

"I do."

"Do you, the woman formerly known as Natasha Romanoff, take this man to be your wife?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then by the temple of Asgard, I declare you married as Sigyn and Loki Laufeysson."

Loki and Sigyn kissed. When their lips met, her hair changed from dark red to light blond and cascaded down her back. She now looked like a goddess, fitting of her new role as a god's wife.

After the ceremony, they all sat around drinking chalices of delicious wine.

"What will you do now?" Clint asked Sigyn when they had a moment alone.

"We'll probably find a nice quiet world to explore. But we'll always be around if the Avengers need us. Don't ever forget, we are your allies."

Clint hugged her and she started to cry a little.

"Who knew the infamous Black Widow would ever settle down. Although, to be honest, a god might be the only one good enough for you."

"Don't say that, Clint. You know I love you. Loki and I just have that special connection."

"I know, and I know I still don't trust him, but you do so I have to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Thanks for everything, Clint. For all the rough times, the good times and everything in between."

"Hey, you just go and enjoy yourself. Make sure he doesn't start killing people again."

She laughed heartily, "I will."

After the guests had all retired to bed, Loki picked up his bride in his arms and carried her to their room. He laid her down on the bed and sat on the edge and took her hand in his. He began kissing I tenderly, looking straight into her eyes as he did so.

He sat back up, caressing the calluses on her slender fingers.

"My Sigyn."

She smiled.

They made love that night tenderly. He watched her face as she reached her peak of ecstasy, and it made him feel powerful, wanted, sexy. After she dozed off, he walked out onto the balcony and closed his eyes.

"Everything is in place. They will trust me now."

"Are you sure?" Said the demonic voice coming into his mind from a world away.

"No one will suspect a thing." He said, smiling to himself.

"The only question is; do you truly love her?"

"Of course not." He replied. But even so he looked back at her sleeping form and felt a pang of guilt.

Loki swallowed whatever feelings he may or may not have for the widow and said, "Love is for children. And mortals. That is why they are all so foolish and trustworthy. Even the great Black Widow has disappointed me in that endeavor. But now we are bound, and she is mine."

"I care not for your personal life. We had a deal."

"And it shall be done, Thanos."


End file.
